Rumors of a rivalry between former pals Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper have been swirling for weeks, and it's not just because they are both frontrunners for this year's Best Actor Oscar. Gossip had it that the lead of Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon and the director-star of the Leonard Bernstein bio-pic Maestro let a woman come between them, and not just any woman: Gigi Hadid. However, now other sources are debunking these claims.
The 28-year-old supermodel and the 49-year-old Titanic icon were first publicly linked in September 2022 at a New York Fashion Week afterparty, following DiCaprio's split from Camila Morrone last summer after four years. The high-profile pair have been seen together off and on ever since, from pre-Oscars parties to summery Hampton's shindigs, with insiders maintaining that the coupling was of the "casual" sort.
However, things got substantially more dramatic when Cooper's name got thrown in the mix. The 49-year-old actor was first spotted with Hadid in October 2023, leaving dinner together at that West Village celebrity favorite, Via Carota. At the time, insiders told Us Weekly, despite the two-decade age gap between the two, they had a lot in common, as they're both single parents to young daughters. Hadid shares 3-year-old daughter, Khai, with her ex Zayn Malik, while Cooper shares 6-year-old daughter Lea with his ex, Irina Shayk.
However, per sources, the romance was fresh and wasn't "serious right now":
It’s still far too early to know where things might be headed. [Although] things aren’t that serious right now, the attraction is there.
So did Bradley break the bro code? According to The National Enquirer, the Star is Born multi-talent did, as they reportedly said:
It’s completely ridiculous. It’s not like they were ever seeing each other exclusively, but the way Leo sees it, Bradley broke the bro code. Leo met up with Gigi in Italy and was all over her. It’s clear that he’s staking out his territory—and everyone’s whispering it’s more about getting back at Bradley than anything else.
However, sources admitted that the rumored feud between DiCaprio and Cooper was "completely ridiculous," per RadarOnline.com. A close source revealed to the publication that all of that romantic hearsay was just that: there are allegedly no hard feelings between DiCaprio and Cooper and rumors of a fallout over Hadid are false.
It does look, though, as if things are still progressing where Bradley and Gigi are concerned, with a source telling Entertainment Tonight that the actor reportedly recently invited the supermodel to a work dinner in New York City. They said:
Bradley and Gigi have so much fun together and things are just easy between the two of them. Their relationship is genuine and hardly requires any effort. They are just enjoying living in the moment without the thought or feeling of trying too hard to make things work. They both recognize the importance of family, friends, and setting a positive example for their kids to live by. They share similar values and both try to be their best selves for themselves and as parents. Gigi’s friends and family like Bradley and love seeing her happy.
Both DiCaprio and Cooper are expected to play a large role in this year's award season because of their respective films Killers of the Flower Moon and Meastro, so I'm curious to see if these two interact on the red carpets. However, if these reports are true, there isn't really any bad blood between the two actors. While we await to see the latest in this seemingly never-ending saga, check out our 2023 movie schedule and catch up on this year's awards contenders.
